E. coli traced to bagged spinach
Outbreak in 8 states leaves at least 1 dead
associated Press
Originally published September 15, 2006
WASHINGTON // An outbreak of E. coli in eight states has left at least one person dead and 50 others sick, federal health officials said yesterday in warning consumers nationwide not to eat bagged fresh spinach.

The death occurred in Wisconsin, where 20 others were made ill, said Dr. David Acheson of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. The outbreak has sickened others - eight of them seriously - in Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah.




In California, state health officials were investigating a possible case that could be linked to the outbreak and warned consumers not to eat the produce.

FDA officials do not know the source of the outbreak other than it appears to be linked to bagged fresh spinach. "We're advising people not to eat it," Acheson said.

The outbreak has affected a mix of ages, but most of the cases have involved women, Acheson told reporters in a conference call. He had no further information on the person who died.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Wisconsin health officials alerted the FDA about the outbreak Wednesday. Preliminary analysis suggests the same bug is responsible for the outbreak in all eight states.

The warning applied to consumers nationwide because of uncertainty over the origin of the tainted spinach and how widely it was distributed.

Health officials do not know of any link to a specific growing region, grower, brand or supplier, Acheson said.

He said reports of infections have been growing.

"It's increasing by the day," Acheson said. "We may be at the peak; we may not be."

Amy Philpott, a spokeswoman for the United Fresh Produce Association, said that it's possible the cause of the outbreak won't be known for some time, even after its source is determined.

"Our industry is very concerned," she said. "We're taking this very seriously."

E. coli causes diarrhea, often with bloody stools. Most healthy adults can recover completely within a week, although some people - including the very young and old - can develop a form of kidney failure that often leads to death.

Anyone who has gotten sick after eating raw packaged spinach should contact a doctor, officials said.

Other bagged vegetables, including prepackaged salads, apparently are not affected. In general, however, washing all bagged vegetables is recommended.

E. coli lives in the intestines of cattle and other animals, and typically is linked to contamination by fecal material. It causes an estimated 73,000 cases of infection, including 61 deaths, each year in the United States, according to the CDC.

Sources of the bacterium include uncooked produce, raw milk, unpasteurized juice, contaminated water and meat, especially undercooked or raw hamburger, the agency says on its Web site.

In December 2005, an E. coli outbreak sickened at least eight children in Washington state. Officials traced the outbreak to unpasteurized milk from a dairy that had been ordered to stop distributing raw milk.

In October, the FDA warned people not to eat certain Dole prepackaged salads that were connected to an outbreak of E. coli infections in Minnesota. At least 11 people were sickened.

In 1993, a major E. coli outbreak sickened about 700 people and killed four who ate undercooked Jack in the Box hamburgers in Washington state. That outbreak led to tighter Agriculture Department safety standards for meat and poultry producers.

I loved watching popeye.

Canadians warned not to eat bagged U.S. fresh spinach, E. coli feared
-----

at 21:39 on September 15, 2006, EST.
By MERITA ILO

(CP) - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned people not to eat bagged fresh spinach imported from the United States on Friday following an E. coli outbreak in 20 U.S. states that has killed one person and sickened nearly 100 others.

"Consumers should check the country of origin in the packages . . . Check for packages marked 'Product of U.S.' or 'Produce of US'," Rene Cardinal, national manager for fresh fruits and vegetables at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, told The Canadian Press.

The original outbreak in the United States was reported Thursday in eight states. By Friday, the outbreak had grown to include at least 20 states. Wisconsin accounted for 29 illnesses, about one-third of the cases, including the lone death.

The bug has sickened at least 94 people across the United States, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said. The agency added that 29 people have been hospitalized, 14 of them with kidney failure.

Officials in both countries warned consumers that washing won't get rid of the tenacious bug, though cooking can kill it.

There have been no cases of E. coli reported in Canada so far in connection with tainted spinach, Alain Desroches, a spokesman for the Public Health Agency said.

Canadian food inspection officials assured consumers that the warning only applies to U.S. spinach. Canadian spinach is still safe to eat, officials said.

The FDA announced late Friday they have traced the E. coli outbreak to bagged spinach products distributed by Natural Selection Foods, based in San Juan Bautista, Calif.

The agency said the company has agreed to recall its bagged spinach products, but warned consumers it is possible the recall could extend to involve other brands and companies.

Natural Selection Foods LLC said in a statement that it was co-operating with health officials to identify the source of the contamination. The affected packages have "Best if Used by Dates" of Aug. 17 through Oct. 1.

The recalled brands are:

-Bellissima

-Cheney Brothers

-Coastline

-Compliments

-Cross Valley

-D'Arrigo Brothers

-Dole

-Earthbound Farm

-Emeril

-Fresh Point

-Green Harvest

-Jansal Valley

-Mann

-Mills Family Farm

-Natural Selection Foods

-Nature's Basket

-O Organic

-Premium Fresh

-President's Choice

-Pride of San Juan

-Pro Act

-Pro-Mark

-Rave Spinach

-Ready Pac

-River Ranch

-Riverside Farms

-Snoboy

-Superior

-Sysco

-Tanimura & Antle

-The Farmer's Market

-Trader Joe's

When ingested, the E. coli bug can cause diarrhea, often with bloody stools. Most healthy adults can recover completely within a week, although some people - including the very young and old - can develop a form of kidney failure that often leads to death.

In a news release issued later Friday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned that "people with compromised immune systems, young children and the elderly" are most at risk for developing serious complications.

It urged people who have experienced symptoms of the illness after consuming spinach to contact their doctors.

E. coli lives in the intestines of cattle and other animals and typically is spread through contamination by fecal material.

Canadian officials said they were informing the Canadian Produce Marketing Association that represents wholesalers, and in turn they will advise the produce distributors to pull all U.S. fresh spinach from store shelves.

Only a couple of hours after the warning was issued, the process of removing the U.S. spinach products from store shelves was well under way.

Geoff Wilson, a spokesman for Loblaws grocery stores, said the company is pulling all its spinach products since most are imported from the United States. Wilson said products like President's Choice organic baby spinach and field green salad, as well as Dole's spring mix salad, will be removed from shelves.

Officials at two other companies, Costco and Sobeys, confirmed they were also clearing the product from the shelves.

In the U.S., initial suspicions focused on California's Monterey County. Farmers there grow more than half the United States' 230 million-kilogram spinach crop, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.

"We're trying to get to the bottom of this and figure out what happened. Everybody is terribly concerned," said Dave Kranz, a spokesman for the California Farm Bureau Federation.

Meanwhile, major U.S. grocery stores like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Safeway Inc. and SuperValu Inc. stopped selling spinach.

Not all strains of E. coli cause illness.

E. coli O157:H7, the strain involved in the current outbreak, was first recognized as a cause of illness in 1982. That strain causes an estimated 73,000 cases of infection, including 61 deaths, each year in the United States, according to the CDC.

Sources of the bacterium include uncooked produce, raw milk, unpasteurized juice, contaminated water and meat, especially undercooked or raw hamburger, according to the CDC.


©The Canadian Press, 2006

E. coli.

I heard it was grown in Salinas, which is grown kinda close to where I live.

2the9s said:

Damn. What kinda world do we live in if its not even safe to eat ORGANIC FREAKIN' SPINACH, for chrissakes?